Thunderbird and Avast 5 Mail Scanner

[kiltym]

Hi,

I realize this topic has been talked about before, but I have a question that seems to keep being missed in all the threads.

There is this link, by Avast, with some good info:

http://support.avast.com/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=458&nav=0,1,82

So, my issue is this.  My email server uses the following settings:

IMAP no-SSL 143
IMAP SSL 993

SMTP no-SSL 26
SMTP SSL 465

I have the settings set up in Avast per their docs.  Basically the to SSL settings from above.

My question is with Thunderbird and the settings I use there.  According to the Avast KB above, I would use the following:

IMAP Port 143 No Connection Security
SMTP Port 26 No Connection Security

OK, so I send an email.  Thunderbird is going to go to my server via port 26.  How in the world do I know that Avast is indeed connecting with an SSL connection on port 465, as I want.  This seems a bit odd to me, but I hope someone can explain it.  Is there some way to verify this is actually happening?

All the other posts talk about just turning off SSL in Thunderbird, but often the ports change for non-SSL email as well, like in my case.  So, not only do I need to turn off SSL, I have to tell Thunderbird to use the non-SSL ports.

Is this all correct?

Also, Avast Mail scanner, with the above settings, seems to scan my incoming email, but not outgoing.

Thanks for any help!
Mark

[kiltym]

Sorry, one more thing I want to add.

It would seem logical that I use the SSL Ports, 993, 465, but with SSL turned off.

However, when I do this, Thunderbird doesn't retrieve my emails or send emails, so I have to use the non-SSL ports.

Mark

[Hermite15]

check your firewall (that's 25, not 26 for smtp)

edit: if 25 doesn't work, try 587

edit: and anyway if the avast proxy wasn't connecting through ssl, you'd get nothing, assuming your mail server requires ssl

[kiltym]

Thanks.

My mail server requires 26 for non-SSL smtp, not 25.

The issue is my mail server supports both SSL and Non-SSL.  So, if I use port 26 for SMTP, it does not require SSL, if I use port 465, it does require SSL.

So, what should I be telling Thunderbird to use?

Mark

[Hermite15]

Thanks.

My mail server requires 26 for non-SSL smtp, not 25.

The issue is my mail server supports both SSL and Non-SSL.  So, if I use port 26 for SMTP, it does not require SSL, if I use port 465, it does require SSL.

So, what should I be telling Thunderbird to use?

Mark

never heard of port 26 for smtp anyway there was one chance out of 1000 that your provider accepts both ssl and non-ssl and here we go that's your case:
 1 check ssl accounts in the mail shield advanced settings
 2 check your firewall >>> connections

ps: thunderbird should use 143 and 587 or25, no ssl, period.

edit: if you're not sure what avast does, again, check ssl accounts and change to ssl (in avast interface)

adding: ports assigned in Thunderbird don't really matter. They're just internal ports that will be scanned locally by Avast. This can only work if ssl is disabled in the client (Thunderbird), so that Avast can scan your mails unencrypted through a clear internal connection. Then avast will detect whether ssl is needed for your particular server or not. If your server accepts both and avast choses no ssl, you can change it

[kiltym]

Thanks again, but you lost me.

The email server is through a company in the U.S. called Bluehost, probably one of the biggest hosting companies in the U.S.  So, I am sure others will have the same questions I do.

Here is what I have in the SSL Settings in Avast:
bluehost.com   IMAP   993    SSL
bluehost.com   SMTP  465    SSL

I understand that SSL should be turned off in Thunderbird, no issue there.  The question is what port I should be using since my server has different ports for SSL and Non-SSL connections.

The gist of what you state is I need to use 143 and 25 and avast will do its thing?

Mark

[doktornotor]

The gist of what you state is I need to use 143 and 25 and avast will do its thing?

Yes. That and NO encryption in TB or other email client.

[kiltym]

Great, Thanks.

I will set things up that way and assume all is A-OK.

Thanks everyone for the quick help, its appreciated.

Mark

[Hermite15]

you're welcome

[Vladimyr]

Great, Thanks.

I will set things up that way and assume all is A-OK.

Thanks everyone for the quick help, its appreciated.

Mark

As you may already know, you don't have to "assume" incoming mail is being checked.
Last email scanned is in the UI.

[PBBear]

I'd like to revive this, because the answer isn't satisfactory and doesn't answer the question.

My ISP also allows unprotected sessions for IMAP and SMTP, as well as SSL-protected sessions.
I have my email client set to use the standard unprotected ports 143 for IMAP and 25 for SMTP
AVASTs email scanner advanced settings might have the SSL ptotected ports, or might not - I use an account which is name-mapped to a server with a different name, so the ISP mail server name that appears in the advanced tab doesn't match the name of the server used in my email client's configuration.

Allegedly AVAST is scannign the emails, but how can I verify that they are actually using SSL when being sent and received to the ISP, without access to the ISPs email logs to check the incoming protocoals and ports that the ISP sees?
The logs within AVAST are not sufficient, because they only show that a message was sent or received, they don't show which protocol was used. For all I can tell, AVAST might have used the unprotected ports as well!
The log file at Documents and Settings\All users\Application Data\Alwil Software\Avast5\Log\Mail.log only says:
...
30/04/2012   9:40:28 AM   00001480:   --IMAP Mail is clean
30/04/2012   9:46:07 AM   0000151C:   --SMTP Mail is clean
30/04/2012   9:46:22 AM   00001480:   --IMAP Mail is clean

It would be much more valuable if the log message included the server name and protocol - something like:
30/04/2012   9:46:22 AM   00001480:   --IMAP Mail from mail.ispserver.com port 465 using SSL is clean

so... with AVAST7, short of using an external packet sniffer, how can I verify that AVAST really is using SSL to talk to my ISP?